Sarah Dunn, Blog Post #3

Intra-regional trade between the United States, Canada, and Mexico brings in more than $1 trillion a year. NAFTA, the North American Trade Agreement, is depended on by 14 million jobs in the United States. A study by the Harvard Business School has found that companies producing globally, and especially continentally, are able to expand locally. Much of the trade between the three countries is not largely in finished products, but in parts. The agreement between Canada, Mexico, and the US goes farther than trade. The three work together on security issues given their shared borders, and continue to grow in this area as the countries work together on issues like intelligence sharing and border crossings. As neighbors, everything that happens in one country effects the others and effects trade.

When we imagine the United States’ trade partners, we think of countries like China and Germany. However, the countries who we have the most trade with are our neighbors. Mexico and Canada are countries that do not have the most positive of image in the US. Mexico is seen as dangerous and unstable, and Canada as funny and rather useless. It is surprising that the neighbors we think so little of have been massively beneficial to Americans. Our trade with Mexico is not a reason to not be worried about some of the security concerns within the country, but it is a reason to focus more on our relationship as business partners instead of as angry neighbors. Given the current economic climate and general global tension, the US should continue expanding and cultivating NAFTA and our relationship with our closest neighbors.